suspension ?s

[-dylan-(OO==|==OO)]

my 67 gmc has leaf springs and i was wondering if there are any was to change it to coil springs? besides changing the whole frame? thx

[cam.man67]

I seem to recall hearing that a member had done it before, but I think it'd almost be easier to find a truck with them on already. 'Course, if you're going to keep your truck a flatbed, the leaf springs definitely should stay.

[oldblue1968chevy]

maybe check craigslist for a coil spring parts truck..measurements from the truck to your truck, holes may be there too, fyi trailing arms are the same too. why u wana swap so badly?

[Shane]

still quite a few 67-72 trucks in the salvage yards, so it shouldn't be too hard to find the trailing arms and cross member out from under a truck that had coils. Not sure if the rear ends are the same as far as mounting, so someone else can probably fill you in on that. You will also need coil springs and u-bolts, which I would purchase new.

[-dylan-(OO==|==OO)]

thx guys. I wnna switch because i am going to bag my truck and i thought that it would be easier to do it with coils in the back. And srry to say but the flat bed is leaving lol

[bw4sale]

My project has a former leaf frame that I've converted to trailing arms (TA). I measured and remeasured and found that the center crossmembers are in the same place on both. The leaf frame is just missing the TA brackets, so I cut the ones off my other frame and bolted them on to the leaf frame crossmember. The rear axle does bolt on differently. You can either find a TA axle or buy the perches and weld them onto your leaf axle. The leaf frame has no crossmember over the axle like the TA frame. I had a guy fab a crossmember to mount the shocks to. You could steal a crossmember off of a TA frame and bolt it in as well. As said, you'll need the ubolts, but you'll also need the lower plates where the lower shock mounts are. These, of course, could be fabbed as well. The easiest would be to find a TA truck and swap it all over. It's really pretty simple. Here's some pics of mine.

What I started with -


with the TA brackets -



The fabbed crossmember -


How it sits now -


Hope this helps.

[-dylan-(OO==|==OO)]

wow thats not to bad... where can u get those brackets and the trailing arms?

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by -dylan-(OO==|==OO)

wow thats not to bad... where can u get those brackets and the trailing arms?

Find someone parting out a lwb coil truck. Grab the center x-member with T/A brackets (or just cut the T/A mounts off so you can bolt them onto your x-member), the shock x-member, & the Panhard bar x-member. They will all bolt-in to your current leaf frame. The T/A's are the same on lwb & swb trucks but parts are typically cheaper when you can find them on a lwb.

[bw4sale]

Oh yeah, forgot about the panhard bar. You can buy new TA's but they're expensive. Like Scoti said, finding a donor or someone parting one out is still your best bet. I actually have an extra center xmember with brackets that I would sell if you're interested.

[raycow]

bw4sale, what did you do about the upper spring mounts?

Ray

[bw4sale]

bw4sale, what did you do about the upper spring mounts?

Good question. I bagged mine and added a c-notch. The c-notch added another 3/16 to the thickness of the metal right there so I feel fine about it supporting the weight. For bags then you just drill where your bag mounting holes should be and one bigger hole where your fitting comes through. If you were going with springs you could either again steal the mounts off a donor truck along with that xmember or even easier might be making a plate that bolted on along with the spring. The hole for the spring bolt is already in the frame iirc.